The need for a tool to compress coil springs is well known in the art. The need for such tools has become even more important since more and more vehicles having independent suspensions are now in use. Many of these vehicles, particularly foreign made automobiles, use a Macpherson-type strut suspension which is particularly useful because of its weight saving features. The coil springs are compressed between a pair of plates and support a substantial part of the vehicle weight. In the after market, the independent suspensions must be serviced, particularly the shock absorber cylinder which in the MacPherson-type suspension is located within the coil spring. Various devices are available in the market to permit removal of the shock absorber cylinder from the coil spring but almost all of the them have significant drawbacks.
Some of the prior art devices compress the spring in an unbalanced manner, resulting in the possibility of the spring being unevenly compressed which may be hazardous. Others involve devices which are light weight and portable but of insufficient size to handle all of the MacPherson-type strut assemblies presently on the market or too flimsy to provide adequate safety to the user. Oftentimes the tools are acceptable for their intended purpose, but are not reliable for heavy duty such as in garages where MacPherson-type strut suspensions are now being serviced with increasing frequency in the market due to the popularity of the MacPherson-type strut suspension in a high percentage of automobiles.
Several prior art devices involve the use of the pneumatic cylinders and the like all of which are cumbersome, heavy, expensive and introduce the need for safety latches and the like to prevent catastrophic accidents in the event of a loss of compressing fluid.